Program Interventions

Background:

MITTRA has been able to establish several POs in all its programs. Wadi Tukdi, Self Help Groups, Federations, Youth groups, Village Watershed Committees, are some of the examples of primary level POs. At apex level, the federations of SHGs and the cooperatives are developed as independent bodies. It has been a long process, spreading over a span of twelve to fifteen years, of developing the capacities and handholding. However, it has resulted in establishment of a strong, local level structure, for the benefit of the participants and the community at large.

The genesis of the POs is rooted in the principle that people possess wisdom and have capacities to manage their own lives, provided they are given opportunities. POs are considered essential for sustainability of the program interventions.

Roles of People’s Organisations:

Activities undertaken by People's organizations:

• Identifying  the poorest families
• Providing support to these families by better management of the programme inputs.
• Conducting training, monitoring progress, inculcating saving habits.
• Building the capacities to develop micro enterprises and income generation activities.
• Networking and developing linkage institutions such as banks, Govt. departments, and markets.

Coverage area:

• People´s organisation are established by MITTRA in it´s various programs in the districts Nashik, Thane, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Pune, Raigad, Dhule, Yevatmal, Nanded, Amravati, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Nagpur, Gondia and Hingoli.

Achievements: People´s organizations established as on September 2010

District	No. of Registered POs	No. of Unregistered POs	Total
Nashik	02	05	07
Nandurbar	02	08	10
Ahamadnagar	02	00	02
Thane	02	04	06
Total	08	17	25

Types of POs established

SN	Particulars	Cumulative Number
1	Self Help Group (SHG)	5154
2	Wadi Tukdis	5224
3	Cooperatives	7
4	Pushpa Udpadak Sanghs	5
5	Federations	5
6	Lead Vibhags	76

 

Different activities are undertaken by the People´s organizations are shown below :

SN	Particulars	Activity	Number
1	Milk Collection centers	Milk collection	18
2	Bulk Milk Coolers	Milling chilling	6
3	Processing Units	Processing of cashew and other fruit produce	11
4	Agro Service Centers	Agriculture inputs	3
5	Seed Bank at Nimbipada, District Nandurbar	Seed bank	1
6	Vegetable Cultivation- by ‘Amrai’ at  Pimpalshet, District Thane	Vegetable cultivation	1
7	Societies registered for collection and marketing of flowers ‘Pushpa Utpadak Sangha (Number)	Marketing of flowers	5
8	Onion purchase (Kalwan)- in process	Marketing of onion	1

Highlights

The People's Organizations in MITTRA program area are mainly engaged in collection and processing of Cashew and Mango fruits those are cultivated by the wadi program participants. They are also undertaking activities like marketing of onion, strawberry, custard apple and preparing and selling grafts.

Agribusiness activities in MITTRA program area are routed through the Vasundhara Agri- horti Producer's Company Limited, Pune. (VAPCOL) having branch office at Peinth. Thirteen producer organizations which are located at different Locations in MITTRA program area are members of VAPCOL.

This year, the turnover of VAPCOL Peth branch has increased to more than 1.5 crores VAPCOL has one cashew value addition unit (of one tone/day capacity) at Peint.

15 new cashew processing units are set up at different villages, each having capacity of processing 50 Metric Tonne/year.

The people's organisation (Kalwan Taluka Jan Uthan Swamrojgar Mandal at Abhona, in Kalwan block of Nashik district has developed a storage facility (300 M Tonne capacity) for onion.

Performance of POs established by MITTRA.

SN	Description	Unit	Achievement
1	Collection and processing of cashew	Metric Tons	538
2	Collection of Mango	Metric Tons	104
3	Collection of ‘Karvand’	Metric Tons	4
4	Marketing of Onion	Metric Tons	116
5	Marketing of Strawberry	Metric Tons	5
6	Cashew processing with value addition	Packets	15,000